Complaining

Don’t forget your human rights

Public service providers, such as GPs, job centres, social services, local authorities, and prisons, are required by law to respect people’s human rights. They must not discriminate against anyone using these rights. If you’re making a complaint to a public service provider about discrimination, don’t forget to also talk about your human rights if you think they have been breached. The Human Rights Act can be used alongside anti-discrimination laws to strengthen your case.

See Where to get help for information on organisations that can help you with human rights queries.

Complaining informally

If you start off by making an informal complaint face to face or over the phone:

plan and write down what you want to say in advance
if you’re a bit nervous, try running through what you want to say with someone else first
when you’re making the complaint, try to stay calm. You’re more likely to get sidetracked if you get annoyed
keep a record of the date and time of all conversations, and who you dealt with.

Complaining formally

Many shops and service providers will have formal complaints procedures. If you are making a formal complaint, try to find out what the organisation’s complaints procedure is and follow it. If it doesn’t seem to have one, put your complaint in writing.

Top ten tips for letters of complaint

1 explain what service you tried to use
2 give the names and jobs of people involved
3 outline what happened
4 include the date and time of the incident
5 tell them how it affected you
6 explain what you’ve done to try and solve the problem informally
7 ask the organisation to explain how it plans to resolve your complaint
8 tell them what you would like them to do to put things right (for example an apology or compensation).
9 say that you’re writing to try and reach a solution without having to take court action
10 tell them that you’d like a reply within 21 days.

Make sure you keep a copy of the letter. You should send it by recorded delivery so you have proof the service provider received it.

Complaining to an ombudsman, regulatory or membership body

Some organisations belong to membership bodies. Part of the role of a membership organisation is to ensure that its members’ services meet certain standards. Regulatory bodies and ombudsmen also uphold the standards of services for which they are responsible.

You could think about reporting the organisation discriminating against you to one of these bodies. Different membership organisations, ombudsmen and regulatory bodies have different powers. They won’t usually be able to pay you compensation but they might be able to investigate your complaint and stop the organisation from behaving like that in the future.

For example, many travel agents belong to a membership organisation called ABTA. If one of their member travel agencies refused to let a lesbian couple book a holiday in a couples-only resort, that couple could take their complaint to ABTA if it’s not sorted out by the agency itself.